Hi. In Outlook Express and other programs when you type a link, whether it has http:// in front of it or just ends in a .com the text that is intended to be a link becomes underlined within the email writing software.
In Thunderbird when I type links when using the "write" screen they do not automatically become links. Sometimes they do when they are mailed, sometimes not (when "http://" isn't included at the start) but I would like to see them automatically become links WITHIN THE WRITE SOFTWARE before my email is sent. Having to switch over to manually insert links is a waste of time, but to actually SEE the links from the write screen before I send is important. Not suspecting they will be there when sent, not guessing, believing, hoping or knowing but actually SEEING the links immediately after I type them in.
There has to be an automatic way when so I can see that the links have automatically been put in like the other email programs do it, right? If I have to downgrade to Thunderbird 2 I'll gladly do so for this feature but please let me know how to set it in version 3, version 2, or if I need different email software to get this feature!
TB may even be overkill for my personal email needs. Any recommendations on portable email if TB doesn't allow this? All I want to call it perfect is a automatic linking like above, a way to search the message archives, putting messages into different folders, and opening HTML emails. My personal pop3 email client needs are very low so maybe there are some projects you'd know about on this board.
Thank you everyone!
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One small problem with what you're requesting. You can choose to see the email however you like but that doesn't guarantee anything at all. It's like saying I want to force all users to view my web page as purple text on a pink background using a Webdings font. Sure you can do that, and then the users viewing your web page will turn off the styling for your website, choosing their own style.
I think it all comes to down to the email client of the person receiving the email. The standard approach to sending email containing formatting is to actually send two copies of the email, a HTML version (in which links should be displayed) and a plain text version. It is then up to the person receiving the email (or specifically their email client) as to how they wish to choose to view the email.
I haven't really looked in TB3, because I usually just send plain text email and if it contains links, trust that the person at the other end will be smart enough to know what to do with it (probably a bad assumption on my part).
I think you're best bet is to make sure that you are composing your emails in HTML mode. There's an option to compose all emails this way (not quite sure where it is) or I think you can hold down SHIFT when you click on the "Write" button and it will force HTML format (or plain text if HTML is already the default).
In your "purple text and webdings example" if I were a webmaster I wouldn't put a company web page up to the public without at least checking that it looked as intended in one browser offline first, even if everyone else had different browsers with different settings and different resolutions. At least I would know for a fact that it would work as intended in my browser, right? And a WYSIWYG web editor could show when you're dong something right, rather than a non-programmer having to guess, right? I'd like that WYSIWYG feel in a portable email program's message writing the way Outlook showed links automatically.
Yes, people can read emails in ways that screw up everything. Yes they can just copy/paste links that don't automatically become clickable. But since Thunderbird apparently doesn't allow the links to be visual the way I want them to (and the way Outlook does), do you or anyone have suggestions?
Thanks!
I've tried them all at various times or another. They are all to the best of my knowledge all portable, and support HTML email but vary in degrees of functionality. Most, if not all of them are sadly no longer in active development.
Dream Mail is probably one of the most comprehensive and best email clients I've ever used (even better than Thunderbird). Sadly, I don't think this program is being developed any more, although it's fully functional and portable. (hence no link to the homepage, only Softpedia because I'm not sure that there is one).
EDIT:The official DreamMail homepage is in Chinese. It seems the English version (and German too) point to domains that are parked.
Si Mail: Last time I looked at this it was still under heavy development and so there wasn't really much to comment on. On the plus side, still seems to be active.
iScribe is a small but capable little mail client, that might be right up your alley if you don't need any of the "fancy" features found in big clients like Thunderbird. This is freeware/shareware. I think the free version limits you to only one pop mail account.
PhoenixMail: I like PhoenixMail a lot. Small, fast, efficient, open source and good at what it does, sadly hasn't been active development for quite some time.
If you just need a mail checker that supports HTML emails then I use extensively Popman and have done for several years. It's freeware and also portable. Note this doesn't let you compose email, only read it.
By the way, you kinda missed the point of the purple/pink web page example. You can make the website look as pretty as you like but users are perfectly entitled to override your settings and make the web page look as crappy (or more to their liking) as they like. Same principle applies to email. You can send me an HTML email if you like but I can choose to strip out all the HTML formatting (including images) if I want and just view the raw text. I'm not having a go, I'm just saying that's the way it is.
It seems that this isn't the most important point though. You want to make the email look pretty for YOU, presumably for easy readability, which is fair enough.
Not only does PhoenixMail automatically put the links in, it's also tiny. Nice!
Yeah, it's just a shame development seems to have died.